Let's see... when I tore down my 460 for the first time at 230k miles 5 of the bores were still standard at the bottom, the worst one was 2 thou over at the top, no more than 2 thou taper in all the cylinders. The entire engine was still good and within spec including the valve seats and guides. It just had a couple worn piston skirts and bearings/rings. They are comparable to a 351w in general terms of durability. Watch some of the old "cash for clunkers" engine blow ups on youtube... most engines die within 20 seconds or so but I saw a fuelie 460 go almost 7 minutes before it died. Give you an idea?

^^x2. I hate seeing an engine senselessly killed. Unless it involves a power adder and an attempt to find a limit in the name of science. That is cool. Those engines give their lives, that other engines may live under boost, nitrous, what have you. An honorable death indeed.

I'd say that compared to other common big block engines of the era it is above average in toughness, reliability, and power capability.

The other big three's common big block engines from the same era have attributes of their own...some of which might be considered by some to be advantageous or superior over certain 429/460 characterisitics, but I feel that the 460's overall engine design makes the most sense and--from a design and engineering standpoint--makes it very adaptable to a wide range of real-world applications (drag, marine, endurance, co-gen, blown, naturally aspirated, etc) for the performance enthusiast.

Paul

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I'd say that compared to other common big block engines of the era it is above average in toughness, reliability, and power capability.

The other big three's common big block engines from the same era have attributes of their own...some of which might be considered by some to be advantageous or superior over certain 429/460 characterisitics, but I feel that the 460's overall engine design makes the most sense and--from a design and engineering standpoint--makes it very adaptable to a wide range of real-world applications (drag, marine, endurance, co-gen, blown, naturally aspirated, etc) for the performance enthusiast.

Paul

I have friends running in offshore endurance events most convert to BBFs because they out last the BBCs. I know of some of the BBC stuff needing tear downs after 50 or so hours.

To stay on topic, 429/460 was designed at a time when Ford needed an engine series that would meet upcoming emisisons requirements, be able to support larger displacements and HP demands as was the trend at the time, be powerful and reliable as was to be used in the Lincoln and other luxury cars, and be a platform to replace the 427 FE in Nascar and drag racing.

That is a tough order and not too many other engine families you can point to and say was designed to meet all those goals from day one. 429/460 is tough, biggest issue is it came at the end of Ford total performance era and lacked the years of performance application and development that the FE had. On top of that by 1973 they had detuned the engines so badly nobody would have ever though it was born to perform. All this delayed aftermarket support and limited intake manifold choice and so forth. To this day some think a 460 is nothing more than a boat anchor...

Just wondering how good of an engine it is? First one ive ever owned, ive had quite a few Ford trucks, but they all had the 300, or the 351....and one 400...but anyways...

Are they pretty durable? Do they compare to the 351? I dont expect them to compare to the 300....

Im just wondering...

A good friend of mine a had a mild built 351M in his Torino and after years of trying to get it to run I talked him into throwing a 460 in it, long story short a 460 with a timing chain swap and an intake and carb smoked the higher compression... 351M by a full second.

They are durable as hell I would put them right with the 300 inline 6 you have to work hard to kill those things.

Also, the 300 I6 owes a large chunk of its durability to being seriously understressed. Produced as a low-revving torque monster for industrial and truck applications, a stock 300 will darn near last forever. Build a 300hp I6 and it will be on par, reliability- and longevity-wise, with a 450 HP 460 build.

So far i really like the 460....ive just heard good and bad things about it, and i was a lil nervous thats all.

later,
Dustin

Solid as a rock as long as you keep don't try anything stupid. The factory 2-bolt block is good to at least 800 HP. The factory bottom end is good for up to 5500 RPM with rods being the limiting factor. The factory crank will easily live to 500 HP with some forum members hitting 600 reliably. The heads, even later model D3's, will support 600 HP with everyday massaging, and some forum members have pushed them well beyond that. There are at least a half-dozen good aftermarket heads, too, including aluminum units that are price-competitive with worked factory cast iron heads. Strokers are where the 429/460 really shines. To stroke a BBC beyond 500 CID requires relatively extensive block clearancing (read "expensive machine work"). Stroking a 460 to over 520 CID requires no mods at all, and 550+ CID only calls for careful block selection for cylinder wall thickness. The crank/rod/piston kits are a simple drop-in. Better yet, the stroker kits are little more than what it would cost to buy parts and prep a factory crank/rod package for a standard .030 rebuild.

A lot of people build strictly for HP but with there's the option of building for monster torque numbers with nothing but carefully selected bolt-on parts and a little basic head work. Using this formula a garden-variety pump gas 521 stroker can easily surpass 550 ft/lb torque without ever seeing the high side of 5500 RPM, and with a torque curve as flat as the Kansas prairie. In a street application that's the kind of torque that will make you grin hard enough to break teeth. That is, presuming you can get the tires to hook.